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Ivan Sanin (Russian: Ива́н Са́нин) born in Volokolamsk Principality, on [[November 14]], 1439, to a family of landowners that owned the village of Yazvisch-Pokrov. His father's name was John and his mother Marina. At the age of seven, Ivan was sent to be educated by the Elder Arsenius at the Monastery of the Volokoloamsk-Exaltation of the Cross. At the [[monastery]], John displayed rare qualities and an extraordinary aptitude for church service. In 1459, John joined the Monastery of Tver Savvin under the Elder, and strict ascetic, Barsanuphius. Finding the [[monasticism|monastic]] rule not strict enough, he left, with the blessing of Barsanuphius, and joined St. Paphnutius of Borov in Borov. On February 13, 1460, John was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] at Borov Monastery, taking the monastic name Joseph.
The young monk Joseph shouldered the heavy obediences placed on him with love and zeal, with the duties of [[ecclesiarch ]] that St. Paphnutius had assigned. Before he died, St. Paphnutius [[ordination|ordained]] Joseph a [[hieromonk]]. After the death of St. Paphnutius in 1477, Joseph became igumen and began to transform monastic life at the monastery along strict [[cenobitic]] principles. A majority of the monks, however, strongly objected to Joseph's leadership. Visiting a number of Russian cenobitic monasteries, including the St. [[Cyril of White Lake ]] Monastery with the Elder Gerasimus, only strengthened his views on monastic life.
Returning to Borov at the wish of the prince, St. Joseph continued to encounter the resistance from the brethren. He, thus, resolved to start a new monastery with a strict cenobitic rule. With seven like-minded monks he returned to Volokolamsk where, with the approval of Prince Boris Vasilievich the brother of Grand Prince Ivan III, St. Joseph founded within Prince Boris' principality the Monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God at the confluence of the Rivers Struga and Sestra. The date [[August 15]], 1479, with the [[consecration of a church|consecration]] of the wooden Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, marked the founding of this monastery that later gained the name Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, after its founder.
Under St. Joseph's leadership his monastery became the center of the lives of the common people of the surrounding area, providing the means for sustaining their existence when they came into extreme need.
In 1470, a preacher Skhariya (Zachariah), who came to [[Novgorod]] in the retinue of the Lithuanian prince Michael Olelkovich, played on the deficiencies of faith and learning of certain [[clergy]] with the idea of self-determination of ones faith and salvation. These ideas led to a disdain of basic elements of Orthodox popular morality: rejection of holy [[icon]]s and veneration of [[saint]]s and ultimately to the fundamental teachings of Orthodox Christianity. The proponents of these ideas became known a Judaizers. Their influence reached to the Grand Prince Ivan III who introduced them to Moscow. In Moscow, he placed two in positions as [[archpriest]]s at the [[Cathedrals of the [[Dormition Cathedral (Moscow Kremlin)|Dormition]] and [[Cathedral of Archangel MIchael (Moscow Kremlin)|Michael the Archangel ]] in the Kremlin. Eventually, an [[heretic|heretical]] [[Metropolitan]] Zosimas was installed in the [[see]] of Moscow.
St. Joseph, with Gennadius of Novgorod, led the struggle against the spread of this [[heresy]]. Joseph first epistle, "Concerning the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity" attacking the heresy, was written in 1477 while he was a monk at the Paphnutiev Borov monastery. At the Dormition Volokolamsk monastery, he wrote his main works, including "The Enlightener" (Просветитель), as the monastery became the bulwark of Orthodoxy in the fight against the Judaizers. Through the works of St Joseph and Arch. Gannadius success was gained in defeating the heresy. In 1494, the heretic Zosimas was [[deposition|deposed]]. At local councils of 1501 to 1504, the heresy of the Judaizers was condemned.
==Sources==
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsLife.asp?FSID=102549 Venerable Joseph the Abbot of Volokolamsk, Volotsk]*[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/306417/Saint-Joseph-of-Volokolamsk Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk]
*[[Wikipedia: Joseph Volotsky]]
[[Category: Saints]]
[[Category: Monastics]]
[[Category:16th-century saints]]
[[ro:Iosif de Volokolamsk]]
